clean sweep

4 years ago

U.S. Could Pull All Afghan Troops

Adek Berry, AFP / Getty Images

Post-2014, Afghanistan could find itself without American troops. On Tuesday, the White House announced that despite recommendations to keep upwards of 15,000 troops in Afghanistan, President Obama could decide to remove everyone, like he did in Iraq two years ago. The "zero-option" is one "we would consider," said Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, but the decision will be based off of two factors: denying al Qaeda a safe haven and fully training and equipping Afghan troops. There are currently 66,000 troops in the country, which will be slowly reduced through 2014, when the NATO combat mission ends. Obama is scheduled to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai this week.